Every Breath You Take
by Rointheta
Summary: When the Doctor finds a way back to Pete's World, he hesitates. What if Rose has moved on and lives a fantastic life? Luckily he has Donna by his side and she decides to give him a little push.


**Beta**: tkross  
><strong>Note<strong>: This takes place in a timeline where Rose did not show up in the prime universe at all during s4.  
><strong><br>**

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><p><strong>EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE<strong>_  
><em>

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><p>"...and you know what he said then?" A huge grin spread on the Doctor's face.<p>

"No, what?" Donna was already chuckling at the yet-to-be told punch-line.

"Well, he said–and you're gonna love this–he said–"

The console gave off a ding. In an instant, the joy drained from the Doctor's now pallid face and he froze mid-movement, one hand locked in a cupping gesture.

"Doctor?"

His mouth hung open, but he didn't breathe, didn't blink, and as the seconds ticked on, unshed tears brought a shine to his eyes. The TARDIS's humming lowered, softened, made every other noise so much louder. Donna could hear her heart beating, a rhythmic, dull pounding, and imagined she could hear even his, but she couldn't hear any breaths other than her own.

How long could a Time Lord hold their breath anyway?

"Doctor?" She waved in front of his face. "Doctor?"

He blinked, took a deep breath through his nose, then directed his gaze to the monitor. It had lit up and displayed a rectangular information box full of symbols she couldn't read.

"What's wrong?" When he didn't answer, she took a step forward and touched his arm. "You're scaring me."

"I forgot."

Although he'd whispered the words, they still echoed in the quiet console room, and she lowered her voice as well. "Forgot what?"

"The program for–" A yellow button started blinking. He closed his eyes. "I shouldn't. She could be happy." He sighed, leaning against the console on one hand, running the other over his mouth whilst looking up at the ceiling. "Moved on with her life…"

"Who? Rose? Did you find Rose?"

He was silent for a beat, then cleared his throat and straightened his posture. "I don't know," he said in a regular volume, fingers dancing over the keyboard. "Best not."

"What?" Donna shook her head, smiling in bemusement. "You've found Rose and you're not gonna save her?"

"Save her?"

"You said she was lost. And now you've found her. Seems like an easy choice to me. You go get her."

"Not lost. Trapped."

"Same difference. You're not letting that poor girl–"

"She's safe. Happy." He gave tiny jerks of his head that soon looked more like an involuntary movement rather than something reassuring. "She's with her family. I'll, I'll– I'll shut it off." He pressed a few more buttons on the keyboard, then hovered over the enter key. "I forgot." His voice was back to a whisper. "I can't believe I forgot."

"That you made it?"

His eyes fluttered shut. "To turn it off."

"Doctor," she said, gingerly pushing his hand away from the keyboard, "what does it mean? What's it do?"

"Doesn't matter."

"Yes, it does. You've been miserable without her. Wouldn't it be better to–"

His head snapped up, eyes flashing. "I'd rather be miserable if it means that she's safe and happy! I'm shutting it off!"

He thrust his hand out to slam down the key, but she squeezed herself between him and the console, stopping him.

"You sit your skinny alien arse down on that jump seat and you tell me what it means. What's that button do? Where is she? How is she trapped? How d'you even know she's safe and happy? How can she be if she's trapped?"

He sighed in defeat and slumped down on the jump seat, staring at nothing. Donna's chest constricted at the sight of him, and she settled down beside him, laying a comforting hand on his forearm and waiting for him to be ready to talk.

They sat in silence for a long moment and she nearly jumped when he finally broke it.

"She's in a parallel world. When I lost her, I tried to find a way to– Tried to find a tear in the walls between the universes big enough for the TARDIS to slip through unharmed. Couldn't find one. Only found a tiny little crack so I could say goodbye. But they appear sometimes, the tears do, the cracks. Just popping up without warning, knitting themselves together over time. Impossible to say when, where, for how long they'll remain open. Unless you build a little machine that scans all of time and space and goes off with a little ding whenever…"

He exhaled and clasped his hands in his lap, staring at his knees.

"So... we can go?"

"Can, yes. Should? No."

"Because you think she's better off without you."

He shook his head. "I know she is. I planned it. Sent her away for her own good. Not for the first time either." He slipped his fingers under his glasses, rubbing his eyes with index finger and thumb. "Then she came back. She always comes back. But then I lost her anyway and I thought… I thought, she always comes back. She always comes back. She fights tooth and nail and the universe bends and– But not this time. And it's," he nodded again and Donna caressed his arm in soothing strokes, "it's better this way. She's got her mother, a Pete, baby brother or sister, Mickey the Id– They might even have…

"Donna, I don't know where we'd come out in her world. And I can't travel in time in that universe. We might end up a century after she's–" He stiffened, then a shiver ran through him. "Or babies. Family. Beans on toast and telly. Or, dunno," he shrugged, "going home from a club at two am in the morning and not having enough money for the taxi, maybe lost her purse even, and running into a handsome stranger who writes his number on her hand and then…" He drew a circle in the air with his index finger. "Babies. Family. Beans on toast and telly."

"Do you really think she's married and has babies?" Donna asked, but he didn't reply. "Do you really think she's happy?"

"She has to be. I can't–" He swallowed. "She was crying, last time I saw her." He turned to Donna, grabbed her hands, intense eyes locking with hers. "Don't you see, Donna? She has to be happy!"

"I do, but..." She gestured at the console. "You can change it now. If she's not."

"But," the intensity faded from his eyes, leaving them wide and vulnerable, "what if she is?"  
>She had to avert her eyes, couldn't stand seeing the pain in his.<p>

"Okay!" She slapped her thighs and stood up. "I'm not gonna watch you mope for a decade because of this. We're going. We're going to that parallel world and we're… We're stalking her!"

"We're what?"

"Stalking her! You know," Donna gave a nod, tugged at the hemline of her tunic, "check her out. See how she's doing. You don't need to make a decision now. We'll stalk first, decide later."

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><p><strong>.<strong>

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><p>"I'm not doing this." The Doctor planted his feet on the ground and folded his arms over his chest.<p>

"Oh, c'mon." Donna took a sip of the coffee drink she'd just bought and pocketed the rest of the money the Doctor had got them by sonicking a cash point. "What's a little stalking amongst friends? I used to stalk Nerys all the time."

"You, Donna Noble, are a very disturbed young woman."

"What? She's sneaky, all right? And she steals boyfriends– Wait." She smiled and fought the urge to touch her hair. "Young woman? You think I look young?"

"Well, compared to me, every–"

She held up a finger in warning. "Don't finish that sentence. Now, how are we gonna find this Rose Tyler?" Donna looked up at the myriad of zeppelins gliding across the sky. "Maybe we can go in one of those, get out the old binoculars…"

He sighed. "I'm not doing this, Donna. Let's just get back into the TARDIS and leave."

"No." She backed away from him, shaking her head. "Go hide in the TARDIS, then, you little space chicken. I'll go find your girlfriend. Does my mobile still work?"

"I think so. Hers did."

"Great. Then I'll give you a ring– Now hang on a minute. You're telling me her mobile works? A mobile she perhaps had on her person when she got trapped?"

"Eeer… Well," he tugged his ear, "Mickey had that one, and who knows whether it survived the fight against the Cybermen, but she had another one when–"

Donna shut him up with an impatient wave of her hand. "Can we track it?"

"I don't even know if she still uses it! Although... if it works here, I don't see why she wouldn't, since she wouldn't get a bill. Probably quite the asset for a Torchwood agent, come to think of it. Did I tell you she's a Torchwood agent? At least I think she is. She could use it to call Clom if she wanted. Or even–"

"Oi! Can we track it or not?"

"I am not doing this," he said, but he was already fishing the sonic out of his pocket. 

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><p><strong>.<strong>

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><p>Donna popped her head up from the bushes she and the Doctor were crouching behind, surveying the park before them. She gasped.<p>

"What?" he whispered, handing back her mobile. He'd put Rose's number into Donna's contacts, then done some jiggery-pokery, as he called it, and turned the mobile into a tracker. "D'you see her?"

"Look at that woman." Donna pointed farther ahead at a brunette in a paisley dress with a wide belt at the waist. "D'you see that outfit? It fits meperfectly, but do they have it in a flattering colour in our universe? No. Five colours, and I tried all of them and every single one made me look completely washed out. But that colour? That'd look gorgeous on me."

The Doctor muttered something in Gallifreyan under his breath.

"I know you're saying something nasty, you know, so you can just shut it."

"Can we please focus? Oh! There!" He tapped Donna on the arm. "Look."

He jerked his head more to the right and sure enough. Barely a hundred metres ahead, a blond woman stood, holding the lead of a yorkshire terrier and chatting with a handsome man in his thirties. He was walking a dog as well, one of those evil-looking ones, and was laughing heartily at something the woman had just said. The Doctor had got that look again, the same one from earlier in the console room with the slack jaw and the shining eyes and the defunct breathing.

Donna jabbed her elbow in his side, and he jolted, chest rising and falling once more. "You know, she looks a little like Paloma Faith."

He turned his head towards her, but his wide eyes remained on Rose. "Hm?"

"The singer. You know? She's on the cover of the magazine I picked up yesterday. I read it today at breakfast, remember? You sure complained about it."

"What on Earth are you talking about?"

"You said it was rude of me to read such rubbish at the kitchen table, and then you muttered something about maybe I was allowed to be rude cos I was ginger. And if that's one of those gingers-have-no-souls jokes, then let me tell you right now that they're not funny."

The Doctor blinked, then looked at her, then back at Rose, head snapping between them. "I, I, I–" He gestured at the blond woman. "There's a time and place!"

"Sorry. So, who's the bloke?" Donna asked, but the Doctor shrugged, shaking his head. "What about the dog? Hers?"

"Parallel Jackie's," he said as though that answer made any sense whatsoever.

The man tilted his chin down and said something to Rose, then bit his lip and smirked. Donna estimated that he had a pretty good success rate with that move, because it almost made her blush, and she snuck a glance at the Doctor through the corner of her eye to gauge his reaction. He was fuming, all black-eyed and clench-jawed.

"Oh, calm down," she said. "He might be flirting with her, but she's not into him." The Doctor didn't comment, but the fact that she now had his full attention told her to elaborate. "She looks far too relaxed. Not twirling her hair, not shifting her hips. Nothing. She's just being polite. Any second now, he'll ask for her number or–"

Donna puffed up her chest when the man pulled out a business card from his pocket and handed it over to Rose, then gave a little wave and left. Donna tilted her head to the side and sighed over the nice view of the man's arse, but Rose didn't let her eyes linger at all. No, she headed over to a rubbish bin and tossed the business card straight away. What a waste. Donna would gladly take that number off her hands.

The Doctor emitted a soft, little huh, and Donna cocked her head. "Told you."

"Doesn't mean anything. She might still be happy and settled down and, and maybe we better go back. To the TARDIS."

"What? And rob her of the chance of going back to her really old boyfriend who sits in the bushes spying on her like a creep?"

"Oi, it was your idea. And I'm not, I'm not– I'm not anybody's boyfriend. Or a creep for that matter. I'm old, I'll give you that, but those other things–"

"Maybe if I borrow a dog for a mo'..." Donna squinted, scanning the park after more dogs, maybe an unattended one who looked docile enough. "Nothing weird about that, is it? Just a bit of a chat, one dog owner to another."

"I'm not gonna let you steal a dog, Donna."

"Borrow. Besides, it's not like I'm gonna spend anymore time here, is it? So what if I try my hand at dognapping for five minutes?"

"And what about parallel Donna? Wanna get her in trouble, hm? Maybe get her a criminal record in the process."

"Ooh! I didn't even think about that! Parallel Donna! I wonder what she's doing." She sucked in a sharp breath, hand curling around the Doctor's arm. "What if my dad's alive. Doctor, what if my dad's alive!"

He groaned. "Oh, not this again. Why don't I ever learn," he asked the zeppelin-filled sky, who responded with a splash of pigeon droppings on his shoulder. "Oh, for the–" He found a wet wipe in one of his many, deep pockets and cleaned the spot, then finished up with the sonic. "Had I believed in signs…"

"Oh, that's rubbish. You go up and talk to her, then," Donna said, peering at Rose through the leafage. She was talking on her mobile now, bright smile on her face, ambling down the pathway with the little dog skipping ahead of her. "C'mon. Before she leaves."

"No. I shouldn't have come." He sighed. "Bloody gingerbread houses. This was a mistake."

"Look. She obviously doesn't have kids, cos she'd bring them with her to the park. She didn't have a ring on her finger either. And if she loves travelling in the TARDIS even half as much as I do, wild horses couldn't keep her from coming with you. Not even if she has the fittest boyfriend on the whole planet."

"And that's fair, is it? Just show up and take her away from all the people who love her, who she depends on and who depend on her. No. I've seen her. That's enough. She's alive; she's happy." As on cue, the wind carried the sound of Rose's laughter to them, and a wistful smile spread on the Doctor's face. "She's living a fantastic life," he said, and Donna knew that tone. He'd mope for hours after sharing some tidbit about his life with Rose in thattone. "Just like–"

Shoving the branches to the side, Donna shot up and darted after Rose without caring in the least about the Doctor hissing her name. 

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><p><strong>.<strong>

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><p>Rose didn't wait one second before tossing the bloke's business card in a nearby rubbish bin. Always happened, this, blokes hitting on her whenever she volunteered to take Rose the Dog for a walk, as though dogs were the ultimate icebreaker for singles.<p>

A muffled oi reached her ears, and she held her breath and listened carefully. She'd heard a few whispers whilst talking to the bloke, but hadn't been able to tell whether it was talking or just the wind rustling branches.

But now that she didn't have to keep half her attention on him, didn't have his inane chatter filling her ears, she could definitely tell that it was voices. Two people. Probably a man and a woman and, although she couldn't make out many words, the cadence told her they were bickering. Siblings perhaps, or an old married couple or – and considering her line of work this was the most likely scenario – partners who were getting on each other's nerves.

She'd already swept her eyes over her surroundings a couple of times, but saw nothing suspicious; although, to her right sat a row of moderately high and thick bushes, and behind her stood a handful of large trees. Perfect hiding places for a pair of spies – or a couple of reporters. She sighed. Her appearance three years ago had created some buzz, but it had quickly died down after the Tylers gave an exclusive interview about their secret daughter. However, last week, during an opening for a new museum, Rose had saved Prime Minister Harriet Jones from an alien attack – on national telly. The media's interest in Rose had flared up, and ever since they'd been a right pain in the neck in their pursuit of learning everything about her.

Wait. The faint buzzing of a sonic device made her abandon the reporter theory. In her line of work, she'd run into several aliens carrying sonic probes and sonic lipsticks and sonic this and that. Just last month she'd stopped Matron Cofelia, who'd wielded a sonic pen.

So, alien spies, then.

She pretended to receive a phone call and lifted her mobile to her ear, greeting the imaginary caller with a cheerful hello and strolling down the pathway in such a leisurely pace her potential stalkers would have no problem following her. It didn't take long before fast approaching footsteps hit the pathway, and Rose moved her hand to the stun gun attached to her hip.

"Oi! Wait a minute!" It was a woman's voice, Londoner, slightly more mature than someone Rose's age. "Paloma, wait!"

Rose frowned in confusion. She'd not expected that. Who the hell was Paloma? Before she'd had a chance to glance over her shoulder, the woman dove in front of her and blocked her path.

"Oh!" The woman covered an exaggerated gasp with her hand, ginger locks bouncing around her face. "I'm so sorry. I thought you were Paloma Faith. You know, the singer?"

"Yeah. I get that all the time," Rose said with a smile. She'd never heard of that singer in her life.

"Yeah?" The woman took a deep breath, eyes flitting around until they landed on Rose the Dog. She exhaled in a relieved sigh. "That's a cute dog. Love dogs! What's its name?"

"Rose."

The woman's eyes widened, a high-pitched noise of surprise escaping her, but then she plastered a smile on her face. "That's a pretty name. Little odd on a dog, though, if you know what I mean."

Rose gave her a once-over. Interesting. No weapon. Looked human, but that didn't have to mean anything. Could be a skin suit. Rose sniffed. Didn't smell Raxacoricofallapatorian. No wait. Fabulous hair, nice makeup, expensive shoes no one with any sense would wear on the field.

"Take it you know who I am," Rose said, letting her hand drop from her weapon. "Funny, though, that you don't know my mum's got a dog with the same name as me. Not done your homework, then?"

"Uh, well…" The woman frowned. "Hold on. You're telling me your mum named her dog after you?"

"Not really. Sort of. Dunno. It's a long story. You a reporter, then? Cos you're not an agent."

The woman crossed her arms over her chest, raising her chin. "I could be an agent."

Rose grinned. "You're not wearing a weapon."

"Maybe I don't need a weapon," the woman said, making a couple of karate chops in the air, and Rose's grin turned into a chuckle. "Did you ever think of that?"

"Reporter, then," Rose said, but her tingling spider sense told her that she shouldn't drop her guard. "Which magazine? Oh, you know what? Doesn't matter. You can go back to your boss and tell them that nothing's going on between me and Paul Bettany. I was just working a case, all right?"

"Oh, really? Interesting. Would you mind giving me an official statement?"

"Not at all," Rose said, slowly moving her hand back towards the stun gun. The current rumour about her was that she'd gone on a date with Daniel Radcliffe, not Bettany.

"Great! Our readers are really interested in your love life, Miss Tyler."

"Yeah?" Rose's fingers closed around the handle of the gun, and she cocked an ear in case the woman's partner would come up from behind.

"Oh, yes! D'you have anyone special in your life?"

"No."

"No? No one? Beautiful girl as yourself must have someone, right?"

"Nope."

"I see." The woman nodded, then tilted her head to the side. "And how does that make you feel?"

"What?"

"Being single. Are you happy? Content with life? You know, wouldn't change a thing? No desire to run away from it all?"

The question threw Rose off so much she nearly missed the way the woman's eyes darted to the right and focussed on something behind Rose. She acted on instinct, whirling around, hooking her leg behind the spy's knee to make them fall to the ground. 

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><p><strong>.<strong>

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><p>Donna jumped back out of reflex and grabbed the dog's lead when Rose the human spun around and attacked the Doctor. His arms flailed about when he lost his balance, and he shot out his hands and grabbed Rose, pulling her down with him. In the quick, smooth movements of someone who'd been in a tussle a few times in her life, Rose straddled him and pinned his arms to his sides by pushing her knees against his elbows. Donna didn't even see the woman pull out her gun until the muzzle pressed into the Doctor's temple.<p>

"Don't move or I'll..." Rose's jaw dropped, eyes widening when they finally landed on the Doctor's face.

"Well, well, well." He fired off one of those manic grins of his he always used to cover up his discomfort. "We've come full circle now, haven't we? Pointing a gun at me, are we, Rose Tyler?"

"It's a Venusian stun gun," Rose whispered, eyes glassy, and stuck her weapon back into its holster.

"Oh, the puns I could make," the Doctor said, but it went right over the very stunned Rose's head. She only gawked at him.

"Doctor?"

"Hello." He wiggled his fingers in greeting. "Was in the neighbourhood, thought I'd swing by. See how you're doing. Heard a rumour you might work for Torchwood and, well..." He gestured at himself where he lay sprawled on the ground. "Well done! I never stood a chance."

"Thank you. Yeah, I, uhm, Torchwood. Yeah. I'm a lead agent now. Been awhile, you know? Took my A-levels and everything."

He furrowed his brow, hands sliding up to her waist. "How long's it been, Rose?"

"Three years." She sniffled and swatted him on the arm. "Took you long enough."

Her words cracked his manic mask, softened his stiff shoulders and curved his mouth into a gentle smile. "I'm sorry."

"You're really here." She ghosted her trembling fingers over his left sideburn, then along his jawline to the shallow dimple in his chin. "Can scarcely believe it." She cleared her throat and brought some cheek into her voice. "If it weren't for your new companion I don't think I would, to be honest, cos in my fantasies you never bring a ginger woman when you come and get me."

He laughed then, a free, loud belly laugh that made his eyes sparkle and crinkles fan out over his cheekbones. Donna couldn't remember him ever laughing like that before nor could she help grinning along with him. Rose joined in too, and laughter poured out of them, making the built up tension and sadness crumble. Donna was faintly aware that passers-by stared at them, but Rose and the Doctor only saw one another.

"I like your new hair." Rose tousled it, and the Doctor beamed and stretched out his neck to get closer to her touch. "The suit too. Blue, eh?"

He shrugged. "Needed a change, I suppose."

"Me too," she said, twirling a honey blond strand around her finger. "Got a tattoo too, actually."

"Oh, really! What of?"

"Well, it's a wolf." She rolled her eyes. "Did it when my latest project started. We're, uhm, we're building this travelling machine so I, uh…"

"What?" he asked, smile tugging at his lips.

"So I could come back."

The smile grew wide, stretching from ear to ear.

"Shut up."

"Where is it?"

"Oh, it's on my…" She looked down at her body, and her cheeks turned a deep shade of pink. "I'm sitting on you."

"Yep." He tugged at his ear. "You have been for a while, actually."

"Oh."

She ran her hands from his shoulders down over his chest, placing her hands over his hearts. Donna nodded to herself and tied the lead to a nearby bench. Time to head back to the TARDIS. She was not watching them play tonsil hockey on the ground – or anywhere for that matter.

"Sorry for attacking you. You snuck up on me," Rose said. "Just reacted out of instinct cos I thought you were– No, wait a minute! And you too, Ginger!"

Rose's voice held such an authoritative quality that Donna couldn't help but obey. She stopped, turned around and found Rose already on her feet with her hands on her hips, glaring at the Doctor who was getting up from the ground.

"You two were stalking me! Why were you stalking me?"

"Eer…" The Doctor glanced at Donna, but she pursed her lips and shook her head. He'd have to get out of this one on his own. "Well, you see… Ehm, I wanted to see, you know, how you were, ehm, getting on."

Rose narrowed her eyes. "So, what, you'd just pop in, stalk me a little, then leave? That it?"

"No! If you wanted, you could, well, you could… come with me. If you want."

"And how, exactly, would you know? How would you know if I wanted to come with you if you were just gonna skulk around in the bushes?"

"I was not skulking! I was merely… observing."

Rose huffed out a breath. "I can't believe this. You saw I was pulling my weapon, didn't you? You only ran up to me cos you wanted to make sure I didn't hurt your friend."

"No, Rose. That's not–"

"She," Rose pointed at Donna, "asked me if I was happy. Is that how you'd know, then? She'd snoop about, then report back to you? If I'd told your friend that I have a boyfriend, would you have gone back to the TARDIS and left without a word?"

His face fell. "You have a…"

"Maybe I do!" Rose cocked her head and inspected her fingernails in a way that looked much too nonchalant to actually be so. Donna groaned. "Maybe I was on my way to him right now. To do couple-y things. Like shagging and stuff."

"Yeah, well, I kissed Martha! And Astrid. Twice." He rocked back on his feet with a nod. "And Donna! Right, Donna?"

Rose gaped at him. "You what?"

The Doctor's mouth opened and closed a couple of times, eyes darting between the two women. "Oh, no. No, no, no. No! They kissed me. Well, Donna and Astrid did. Well. The first time, with Astrid. But the second time she wasn't actually corporeal, so that hardly counts and Martha? That was just a genetic transfer. Yep. Just par for the course in saving the world. Happens all the time!"

"And I just did it to save his life," Donna said. "Believe me. I'd never kiss that beanpole unless lives depended on it."

"Were you really gonna leave?" The Torchwood agent in Rose had slipped away, leaving a hurt, young woman behind who worried her lip and fidgeted with her earring. "Cos I am. Happy, I mean. I am. Got a good job. Got my mum, my dad, baby brother. Mickey. Good friends. Nice flat." She shrugged, tugged down the sleeves over her hands and folded her arms over her chest. "Is that happy enough? Good enough for you to go back and know I'm living a fantastic life? Do I have to be miserable for you to take me back?"

He closed his eyes, head bowing towards his chest. "No. It's your choice, Rose. It's up to you."

She shook her head. "No. Cos you came here and were gonna take one look at my life – just one – and decide for me. Isn't that right? Wasn't important to you whether I'd be even happier with you, was it?"

"Of course it was. Is." He closed the distance between them and placed his hands on her upper arms, speaking to her in a soft voice. "You're right. I shouldn't have skulked around in the bushes, but…" His chest expanded with a big breath he slowly exhaled. "I got... scared."

"Of what? Me?"

He shook his head, leaning closer. "Of what I'd find. Of how you'd react. How I would. But I wouldn't have left without seeing you, without talking to you. It wasn't sensible to come, I know that and I tried to put up a fight, but I already knew I'd lost that battle. Did the second I realised I'd found a way. I couldn't not come. Couldn't not see you." He moved his hand to cup her cheek, running his thumb over the apple. "Couldn't not talk to you."

"Why not?"

"Because I–"

A sigh eased its way from his lips and he touched their foreheads together, standing still for a moment. Their noses brushed in cute, little promises for more, and Rose's eyes fell shut, lips parting. She returned her hands to his chest, fingers curled around his lapels, and waited with bated breath for him to make a move.

When he finally did, when he angled his head and pressed his lips to hers, Rose let out a small squeak. He chuckled against her mouth, nudging her nose again, and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her flush to him. She hummed then, a soft, content noise in the back of her throat, and linked her arms around his neck in tender reciprocation.

Donna gave herself a pat on the back for a job well done and left the couple to snog in peace. If this London was anything like hers, she knew just where to find a good shopping centre. The Doctor had been clueless enough to nick a couple of hundred from that cash point, and there was no way she'd leave this universe without buying that paisley dress – and whatever else she could find.

She pulled out her mobile and sent Rose a quick text that she was going shopping and would be back at the TARDIS in a couple of hours. After putting it back into her pocket, she glanced over her shoulder just in time to see the Doctor pushing Rose against a tree and kissing her in a way that surely would get them arrested.

Donna spun around, but not fast enough to avoid the sight of him tugging at Rose's top, revealing a howling wolf tattoo that peeked out from the waistband of her denims.

She could still hear their wet kissing noises and panting breaths, though.

Donna shuddered. Maybe she better pick up some earplugs as well.

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><p><strong>the end<strong>


End file.
